Echoes of the Night
by BlackShadow875
Summary: Ch. 6 up finally...A new enemy has emerged, with allies...and they are striking in a place where Danny can never expect...friends and family are in trouble, and for some reason, going ghost has become more difficult with these enemies around...
1. Struggles in the Dark

_**Echoes of the Night**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, reading my first DP fanfic. For those who are taking time to read this, thank you very much. I hope you find this a very entertaining read, and I hope that you will submit a review during its progress. (No flames, please.) Please do not use this story without my permission. It will be greatly appreciated. Now then, on with the story._

_(Oh, and because I have to...)_

_Disclaimer: Butch Hartman owns Danny Phantom. I do not. But made-up new characters are my own._

_**Chapter 1: Struggles in the Dark**_

It was a beautiful evening in Amity Park. The sun was about to disappear below the horizon, and the sky was changing from its brilliant orange-yellow tinge to a faint blackness.

A resident was just walking along the street, immersed in his own reveries. He had just closed shop at the auto dealership, and he was walking towards his car, parked some blocks away.

In his mind, he was thinking about the day's events. Today, it was business as usual.

But he lived in Amity Park, a place where almost everyone in town had some sort of vehicle for transport. Even the kids had some form of transport - many rode on mopeds or electric scooters.

So the usual business, in this case, was classified as nonexistent.

"Dang," he said to himself. "The town is just full of cars. No one seems to be buying anything at all. In fact, it doesn't seem like anyone _needs_ a car these days."

He had just reached his own vehicle when a car coming from behind passed him on the street. But it drove through a deep puddle, which was unfrotunately the exact place he was standing. The resulting splash completely soaked him with blackened water from head to foot.

"Sorry, man!" yelled the motorist as he continued driving.

The salesman angrily took off his dampened jacket and tried to find his keys, absolutely irritated that his previous point had been made.

"I don't know why I even went into this profession!" he said. "Seriously, there are some days I wish that no one in this town had any form of motorized transport!"

Just then, as if on cue, a strange green smoke appeared around him. There was some faint faint smell of some kind of incense in the air. At first he was afraid, but then a green spirit with a feminine body appeared out of the mist with long black hair, dressed like a harem.

Now he was terrified.

"I sense your fear," said the spirit, "but there is no need to fear me, I assure you," she said in a rather pleasant tone.

The salesman could barely speak as he uttered out the words, "Who…who are you?"

"I am Desiree, the Wishing Ghost," she said with the same tone. "And it seems that you have uttered a desire from the heart."

Her hands now started to glow red as she started to utter her famous words.

"_So you have wished it, and so shall it -"_

"OH, NO, YOU DON'T!" yelled a voice from out of the shadows.

Desiree whirled around. She was met by a glowing flash of an ectoplasmic light that knocked her off course and far away from the man.

The man, although very hesitant, also turned around to take a look.

He found himself was staring at another ghost, with white hair and glowing green eyes. The ghost was dressed in a black skin-tight suit with a silver belt, silver boots, and silver gloves, but those gloves were currently glowing green. And the trademark insignia on the ghost's chest, a ghostly D with a P inside of it, completed the costume.

He was staring at no one else but…

"INVISO-BILL!" he wailed, at the appearance of a second ghost. "AHH!" He jumped in his car and drove off as fast as he could, crashing through and taking with him a portion of the surrounding parking lot fence.

"THE NAME IS DANNY PHANTOM!" yelled the adolescent half-ghost after him, completely annoyed by someone calling him the wrong thing for the thousandth time that month. "AND I'M ON YOUR SIDE!"

"Seriously, after that Pariah Dark incident, you'd think everyone would get it by now," said another voice from the shadows.

That voice belonged to Tucker Foley, one of Danny's best friends. He was a green-eyed African-American kid dressed in a long-sleeved yellow shirt and green pants with brown boots. Eyeglasses and a red cap covering a dandruff-ridden scalp completed his outfit. He was very good with computer equipment, and was always on hand to help Danny with his trusty PDA.

"Tell me about it!" said Danny, turning towards Tucker. "I am so getting tired of that name."

"Same here," said another voice, its owner stepping out of the shadows as well. "Danny Phantom just sounds better, in my opinion."

Sam (or rather, Samantha) Manson was the owner of the voice. She was a goth - she was dressed in a black tank-top with a purple oval on it, a black skirt with purple hose, and black boots. She wore a black necklace around her neck and her black hair was kept short, with a little ponytail in the back. She was Danny's second best friend, and with her instincts, she was also a good sidekick to have along while fighting ghosts.

"You really think so?" asked Danny, turning in her direction. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's just that my ghost name and real name are really similar. I mean, look, Danny Fenton vs. Danny Phantom? I was wondering to give it a change…"

"Oh, c'mon, dude!" said Tucker, crossing his arms. "It's perfectly fine as it is!"

"Yeah," agreed Sam. "You totally shouldn't change it."

Danny sighed. "Oh, fine, I guess so. But the minute someone is able to find this out from that, I'm blaming the both of you. Although she didn't figure it out that way, the fact that my sister Jazz knows is already too many people."

"Oh, sure!" said Sam. "Blame the ones who are responsible for leading you into your parents' ghost portal, the ones to whom you owe for receiving these powers in the first place! We wouldn't be having this kind of fun if it weren't for us!"

"But that was an accident!" said Danny.

"Yeah, an accident that gave you awesome ghost powers!" said Sam.

"Well, that's true, but these powers actually gave me a second life!" said Danny. "Now I have to balance both my personal life and my ghost-fighting life at the same time!"

"Well, either way," she said, "without them, you'd _still_ be having a pretty dull life, and you can't forget that."

Danny cocked his head to one side, but then nodded in approval.

"Speaking of which," said Tucker, "are we forgetting about something?"

"Yeah," said Danny, putting his hand to his chin. "I feel that we're forgetting something very important…"

That answer came in the form of a red ectoplasmic blast from behind that hit Danny in the back. It sent Danny flying through the air and crashing into a wall, finally falling headfirst into an alley dumpster.

Tucker and Sam turned. Annoyed that she was stopped from granting a wish, Desiree's face was writhing with rage and her hands were glowing red.

"Oh yeah," said Tucker. "Her."

Sam's eyes rolled.

Danny turned intangible and flew out of the dumpster to face the harem ghost, but with an empty aluminum can on his head.

"How dare you stop me from granting a wish!" she yelled at him.

"I thought I sent you back to the ghost zone!" yelled Danny. "How did you escape this time? Wished yourself free?"

"I have my ways!" said Desiree. Then from out of her glowing hand burst another ectoplasmic ray.

Danny dodged the red blast and sent a green one of his own at her. It hit her squarely in the chest. She was spinning in the air before she finally landed on the street.

Recovering from the attack, she flew up and her hands turned into the shape of a hammer and swatted at Danny, hitting him in the side of the face and knocking him off course in the air.

"Danny!" screamed Tucker and Sam together.

When Danny recovered, he felt his eye. It stung a lot. It was sure to become black very soon.

Desiree flew at him again and forced him against the wall, pinning him there.

"Foolish child!" she said. "You will pay for your mistakes!"

For some reason, Danny couldn't go intangible. It felt just like the first time he ever battled her.

Feeling his fists surge with energy, Danny forced her off with a ghost stinger.

"AHH!" she screamed, flying through the air.

Danny chased after her and attempted to knock her back to the ground.

He was met with another red blast from her hand.

"GAH!" he yelled, as careened through the air and felt his back hit smack against a billboard, upside down. "I've got to stop charging like that."

From his upside down view of the world, he could see the fury in Desiree's eyes as she flew towards him again.

Righting himself, he went intangible and flew through the billboard. Looking behind him, he could see Desiree giving chase as they flew through the warm, night air.

She fired more blasts at him. Danny did his best to dodge every single ray, the red lights sometimes missing him by inches.

After about a minute of flying and dodging through more billboards and buildings, Danny knew he couldn't fly forever. So when he was heading for the same billboard that the chase started from, he decided to do a little trick.

He back-flipped in the air, and Desiree passed underneath him in surprise. Now she was the one being chased.

Danny fired round after round of green ectoplasmic blasts at Desiree. After several attempts, one blast finally hit her, and sent her spinning towards the street.

"Ow!" Desiree yelled, as she hit the asphalt once again. "I'll get you!"

"I plan to make a correction to that statement," said Danny.

"How do you mean?" she asked.

Danny replied by splitting himself into four images. They all spoke at the same time as they all said, "Now the correct statement is _if_ you can get all of _us_!"

Desiree was in shock that Danny was able to do this, but even more shocked were Sam and Tucker.

"Since when was he able to do _that_?" asked Sam, her mouth wide open, matching Tucker's shocked expression.

"Beats me," said Tucker. "I thought he was still only able to split himself from the head!"

Guessing, and panicking, Desiree fired a ray to the left-most Danny. Unfortunately, it was a duplicate.

"Wrong!" yelled the remaining three Dannys. The two duplicates snatched her from the ground and held her in place in the air for the real Danny to deliver the finishing blow.

"Let go of me!" she said, struggling. "No one can touch me unless they wish for it!"

"Then grant this wish!" said the real Danny, pulling out the Fenton thermos from behind his back. "I wish you held still so I can make you disappear inside this thermos!"

Trapped by her own power, Desiree was forced to obey. She remained stationary in the air. Danny let the duplicates merge back into him, for they were no longer needed.

A blue ray of light emanated from the silver and green thermos and lanced towards the immobile harem spirit.

"NOOO!" she cried, as she was being dragged into the inner dwellings of the Fenton ghost-catcher. "I'll be back, and consider that granted!"

"But not now," said Danny as he slammed the lid on the thermos.

His friends ran to catch up with him as he changed back into his human form. Danny's hair changed back to a raven-colored black and his green eyes turned blue. His black body suit disappeared and was replaced by a white T-shirt with red cuffs at the sleeves and a red-trimmed neck collar, the silver D insignia replaced with a red oval. The appearance of matching red and white shoes, along with blue pants, finished the transformation back to normal, 14-year old Danny Fenton.

"That was awesome!" said Sam, reaching him first and giving him a small hug.

"Good job, man!" said Tucker, giving him a high-five.

"Thanks, guys!" said Danny. Then he put his hand to his eye. "I don't know how I'm going to explain this black eye to my parents, though."

A mystery voice spoke behind them. "Don't worry, you won't have to."

An icy chill ran down Danny's spine and his stomach felt as if someone had turned it inside out. Danny and company turned in horror. Whoever spoke must have seen everything.

But then they resumed breathing when it was only Jazz.

"Jazz!" said Danny in outrage. "Don't scare us like that again!"

"Sorry," said the 16-year old sister. "I should try to be more careful with that."

"What are you doing here?" asked Tucker.

"I'm here for Danny," she said, turning towards him. "Mom and Dad wanted me to find you, since you never called after school. I kind of figured that you would be fighting ghosts. I followed you guys by the sound of crashing billboards."

"All the way out here?" asked Danny. "How did you get here? Your car's in the shop!"

Jazz pointed to a moped leaning against a lamppost.

"Hey!" said Danny. "That's mine!"

"I'm sorry," said Jazz. "But I really didn't have any other choice. I'm kind of scared to drive our parents' RV. I could accidentally press one button and it could send me flying through the air, for all I know. Who was that ghost you were fighting, anyway?"

"Desiree, the Wishing Ghost," said Danny, waving the full thermos in the air. "You never saw her before?"

"A wishing ghost?" asked Jazz. "Never saw you battle her before. Well, at least you didn't need my help."

She opened her purse. Danny and friends looked inside, aghast. Inside was a Jack-of-Nine-Tails, the Fenton Peeler, the Specter Deflector, and another Fenton Thermos.

"Wow, Danny," said Sam, eyeing the load of weaponry. "You've got competition."

"No, he doesn't," said Jazz, laughing lightly. "He's better at this than I am."

"Which reminds me," said Sam, turning towards Danny. "Since when were you able to split yourself like that?"

"During my battle with Pariah Dark," said Danny. "I just didn't think of doing it again until now."

"Well, that was still pretty awesome, man," said Tucker, looking at his watch. "Oh, dang! Look at the time!"

Danny looked at the clock on his cell phone. It was 6:55.

"I have to meet with my parents tonight," said Tucker. "We're going out for dinner with my grandparents in five minutes! See you guys later!"

And he sprinted home.

"Well, I'd better be getting home, too," said Sam. "Hey, Danny, that was really cool, what you just showed us there!"

"Yeah, I guess it was," said Danny, smiling back at her.

Looking at Danny's smile, Sam blushed a bit and looked at the ground. "Yeah...well, I'd better get going before my folks start to worry. You know how they are."

"Well, yes, I kind of do," he said, remembering the time they put a restraining order on him.

"Do you need a ride?" asked Jazz, offering her a helmet. "There's plenty of room on the moped."

"Oh, no, that's fine," said Sam. "Walking would do me some good. Bye, Danny. See you later."

"Goodbye, Sam," said Danny waving. But for some reason he felt some urge to go ghost and fly her home instead.

But she walked off into the night, leaving Danny and Jazz alone.

Jazz looked at her brother, who was still watching the goth girl's silhouette until it disappeared into the surrounding darkness.

When she vanished, he turned towards his sister, who was looking at him in a funny way.

Feeling awkward, he raised an eyebrow as he spoke to her.

"What?"

"How long have you and her been friends again?" asked the older Fenton.

"Years," said Danny. "Why do you ask?"

"You like her, don't you?"

Danny blushed. "No, she's my best friend! It would be kind of, well, weird, wouldn't it?"

Jazz smirked at him. "No, Danny, it wouldn't. Seriously, if there's any kind of advice that I'd give right now, it's to do something about it. You know, something for _her_."

She handed him a helmet, just as he was putting away the thermos with Desiree inside of it.

"C'mon, you can fly us home another night. You're probably exhausted from that battle with that wishing ghost. We were having spaghetti tonight...it's probably cold by now. I'll make up some story about that black eye for you, and I'll give you some ice to put upon it when you get home. And you kind of smell, too…you should really take a bath…"

Danny didn't speak for the rest of the time while Jazz started up the moped and drove them home. He was glad to have a sister who cared about him. But at the same time, felt a little annoyed that she now kind of knew another subject that she could endlessly bug him about.

_End Chapter 1_

_So, tell me what you think. Send me a review! (Once again, please, no flaming.)_


	2. Reunion

_**Chapter 2: Reunion**_

Danny and Jazz reached the Fenton household just as the streetlamps were about to turn on. They took off their helmets and quickly tidied their appearances.

"Hat hair," groaned Jazz. "always has been one of my worst enemies,"

"Better than mine," said Danny. "At least yours doesn't attempt to kill you."

He was about to go up the steps, but felt a hand pull him back.

Looking behind him in surprise, it was his sister, who had a crazed look of fear on her face.

"I just remembered!" she said. "We can't go this way! Let's go through the other way."

She attempted to pull him towards the back door.

"What's wrong?" he asked while being dragged, trying to free himself. "Seriously, if you're still worried about my eye, I have a great excuse for it...I can just say that while we were riding, there was this branch that was hanging a little too low, and -"

"No, I'm not worried about that!" she said in a panic. "I completely forgot...Mom and Dad...they installed another invention!"

"What's the worst that could happen?" asked Danny, literally prying off his sister's death grip. "It's not like anything bad might happen to me."

"No! Danny! Don't!"

"Relax," he said, nonchalantly, putting his foot up the first step.

Jazz put down her head and covered her ears. It was too late.

Suddenly, an alarm went off that blared throughout the whole neighboorhood. A voice accompanied the flashing lights and sirens.

_"Warning...warning...ghost on premises...warning...warning...ghost on premises...this is not a drill..."_

Before Danny could move backward off the step, he suddenly found himself surrounded by smoke. Then he felt himself being swung up from off the ground, trapped inside of a net.

Jack and Maddie Fenton burst out of the door while the smoke was still blanketing the area, and each raised an ectoplasmic gun at the capture in the net.

"FREEZE, GHOST!" yelled Jack Fenton, poised to fire, not knowing what was in the net because there was so much smoke.

"Don't shoot me!" said Danny, coughing through the smoke.

"Of course, that's what they always say," said Maddie, about to fire her gun.

"Dad!" screamed Jazz, running up through the smoke. "Let him out right now!"

"Are you kidding?" said Jack. "We've got a ghost trapped there in that net! Why should we let him out?"

The smoke cleared from the area as it revealed the one inside. "BECAUSE I'M NOT A GHOST!" yelled Danny, swinging upside down inside of the prison net.

But a voice in the back of his head added, "..._Yet..."_

"Oh, my goodness, Danny!" said Maddie, putting down her weapon. "Jack, get our son out of there!"

"Whoops," he said, putting down his own weapon and running towards Danny.

After they got him free, Jazz rounded on her mother while Jack apologized to his son.

"Sorry, Danny," he said, brushing dust off his son's shoulder.

"Ugh, I've had better days," said Danny. "What is this thing you've put up?"

"It's our patented Anti-Ghost Alarm!" said Jack, proudly. "It tells us exactly when a ghost is about to enter our property from the front door. Thanks to you, it looks like it works quite well."

"But also thanks to it," said Jazz, coming back, "not only did you give us a heart attack, but you almost fired a ray at Danny!"

"Besides," said Danny. "We've got the Ghost Shield. Why do we need an alarm system! How many barriers of defense does one need!"

"But this is State-of-the-Art technology!" said Maddie. She pointed to a newly installed computer that pulled out of the front door. "A hidden motion detector senses ghostly presence outside the front door, thus triggering the alarm. I still don't know why it reacted when Danny walked up towards the front door..."

Danny and Jazz gulped together.

"Oh, don't sweat it, son," said Jack. "There's still a few kinks to work out, and soon, it should be perfectly fine for weekly use! Sorry about that attack, still."

"Thanks," said Danny, rubbing his head and walking through the front door. It looked like he had to enter the house through the back porch from now on...

"What happened to your eye, Danny?" asked Maddie, now staring at him with motherly concern. "Did you get in a fight?"

"No," said Jazz quickly. "While we were riding home, this big branch that was hanging too low whipped into Danny's eye."

An uneasy moment of silence blanketed the room as the parents looked at each other.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, one of them spoke.

"Sounds reasonable," said Jack, shrugging.

Danny and Jazz sighed relief.

"Do you want something for your eye?" asked Maddie as Danny walked past her.

"No, I'll get some ice in the kitchen," said Danny

"Oh, yeah, dinner's on the counter, Danny!" yelled Maddie after him. "We heated it up for you!"

"Thanks, Mom," he yelled.

Danny took off for the kitchen. He was looking forward to eating that spaghetti he was told about.

But first things were first. He went to a drawer and took out a sandwich bag. Filling it with ice and covering it with a paper towel, he placed it over his swelling eye.

He saw a covered bowl on the counter. His stomach urging him to gorge on the pasta, he removed the lid.

The aroma of steaming marinara sauce reached his nose. It smelled delicious. He went to the drawer to grab a fork, thinking about nothing but eating that first steaming bite of pasta. He scooped up a helping and plopped it on a plate.

It was oddly glowing for some reason, but that didn't seem to matter. Danny stuck his fork into the pile...

The spaghetti screamed. "OUCH!"

Danny froze in terror.

_"You dare stick a fork in me!" _yelled the steaming pile of spaghetti. _"Then take this!"_

"GAH!" Danny yelled, as the pile of pasta suddenly grew a face and lunged at his face. Red marinara sauce splattered everywhere as Danny struggled to rip it off, completely forgetting about his black eye. He was more concerned with breathing.

_"Take my carbohydrates of doom!"_ screamed the spaghetti as it attempted to wrap itself around Danny's neck.

"Someone please..." yelled Danny, trying to gulp air. "GET THIS OFF OF ME!"

"Danny!" yelled Jazz. She ran towards him and pulled him free from the killer food, tomato sauce splattering all over the kitchen walls.

The pile of spaghetti lay where it fell, and attempted to lunge towards Danny again.

Jazz, thinking ahead, whipped out the Fenton thermos and sucked the pasta inside.

"Oh, boy," said Danny, trying to catch his breath, and covered in sauce. "What was _that_?"

"_Was _your dinner," said Jazz, shutting the thermos. "Mom and Dad must have heated it inside that Fenton microwave again."

"You mean the one that they cooked hot dogs with and the food suddenly became evil from the heating ghost rays?"

"Yep," she said, helping him up. "Same one."

"Great," said Danny, walking with his sister. "I've suddenly lost my appetite for spaghetti. Maybe I'd better just eat a TV dinner..."

Jazz and Danny laughed together as they went upstairs to their rooms to change out of their sauce-stained clothes.

"Hey, what's this mess in the kitchen?" Maddie asked herself as she came into the room some time later. But judging by the stains, it became apparent.

"JACK!" she yelled.

"What is it?" he yelled back.

"You didn't by any chance use the Fenton microwave again to heat the leftovers, did you?"

"Uhh..." he said, uneasiness on his face. "...s-sorry about that, too."

Maddie put her hand on her forehead and proceded to clean the mess up.

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Danny was halfway through his (regularly) microwaved chicken pieces and with another bag of ice over his eye when Jazz asked him a question.

"So, Danny," she said, "Are you ever going to do something about this?"

"About what?" asked Danny, between bites of ketchup-covered french fries.

"About Desiree, I mean," she said. "What do you do with ghosts you capture?"

"Oh," he said, getting up from the table. "Let me show you."

He led his sister down into the basement, the thermos containing the wishing ghost in his hand. He went towards the Fenton portal and opened up the port for the thermos attachment. Removing a plastic cover from a red button, he pushed it, and the Fenton portal opened. Turning the thermos upside down and placing it inside the cylindrical hole, he activated the computer to drain the contents of the thermos to go back into the ghost zone.

A very glum-looking Desiree appeared in the portal as they watched her spirit being forced back into the place she had previously escaped.

"Wow," said Jazz. "That's all?"

"Yes," said Danny, "until the next time she escapes."

"When will that be?"

"I don't know," he said, taking the empty thermos out of the port. "With these ghosts, _anything_ is possible."

Then he put the thermos with the evil spaghetti in the attachment and they watched it disappear into the ghost zone. Jazz had to laugh. By watching her brother putting evil food into the ghost realm, anything _was_ possible.

And with Danny taking the second empty thermos in hand, they headed back up the steps.

"So what are you going to do for the rest of the night, Danny?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "But Mom and Dad have been bugging me to clean my room for a while. I'll do that, and maybe I should start working on Lancer's poetry assignment for the weekend."

"But you fall asleep doing that stuff!" she exclaimed, surprised her brother would even think of doing that.

"Exactly. I'll just start working on it, and soon enough, I'll fall asleep, and when I wake up some of my work will be done. It'll be like killing two birds with one stone, or in my case, trapping two ghosts in the Fenton thermos at the same time."

Jazz laughed again as they closed the door behind them.

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Meanwhile, in the ghost zone, Desiree was still upset that she was defeated by Danny Phantom once again.

"Oh, until I get my hands on that kid," she said. "Oh, curse these powers of mine!"

She suddenly felt depressed.

"Cheer up, Desiree," said a voice behind her.

The harem ghost turned around. A group of ghosts was behind her, all previously shut in the realm by the adolescent half-ghost.

Among the group was Skulker, Ember, Johnny 13 with Kitty, the Box Ghost, and Technus. They were all bunched together, but as she looked at their expressions, they all had slight smiles on thier faces.

"Hi," she said to the large gathering. "But why should I cheer up? I was just shoved back into the ghost zone by that kid again."

"We all feel sympathy for you," said Skulker. "But seriously, cheer up!"

"Why do you keep saying that?" she asked, a little irritated now.

"Because we have a surprise for you," said the ghost hunter. "Everyone! Move out of the way!"

The entourage moved so that Desiree could see the surprise among them.

All that Desiree saw was another ghost...but then she took a closer look...her expression changed as she saw that the other ghost was dressed like...herself...

"Oh, no! It can't be!" she said in a half-surprised, half-joyous tone. "Is it...really _you_?"

"We found her floating around," said Skulker, "and she looked like you...and we knew..."

The ghost came out of the shadows so that Desiree could see her face clearly. When her face came into view, memories of Desiree's own past life came back to her...the personal life she had before she became the wish-granting ghost...the life she had left behind when she was banished from her home...

"Desiree..." said the other ghost, about to cry. "It has been...so long..."

"It is you!" said Desiree, flying up to her. "Oh my goodness...Renee...I thought...we'd never see each other again..."

Tears filled Desiree's eyes as she hugged her long-lost sister.

"Even in death, I knew we could never be apart, even if I was banished from the kingdom long ago...how was I supposed to know that that king had a wife?"

"That broke my heart, knowing I could never see my sister again," said Renee. "That was unfair for what they did to you. It was unfair for what that did to me. I fell into depression, knowing I could only see my sister in my dreams..."

"I, too," said Desiree.

"But now we're together again!" said Renee. "Thank you, all of you, for reuniting me with my sister."

The group smiled.

"So now they're together," said Kitty.

"Yeah, together, trapped in this ghost zone!" said Desiree.

"That's what this place is? A ghost zone? Who put you all in here, anyway?" asked Renee.

"He is a half-ghost brat named Danny Phantom," said Ember. "He's a ghost who uses his ghost powers for 'good.' He's been on our nerves ever since he existed."

"Half-ghost?" asked Renee. "So he's a regular human who transforms into some hero, fighting off ghosts, and putting them back here?"

The whole group nodded.

"So this is what happened?" asked Renee, her hands glowing the same red tinge as her sister. "You fought against him, and you lost because he beat you up?"

Desiree nodded, but didn't mention the other facts...

"No one harms _my_ sister!" she said. "OK, I'm convinced. This Danny Phantom is trouble. You were all nice enough to reunite me with my sister, so it's fair that I help you destroy this character."

"One problem," said Desiree. "We need to escape this zone so we can even touch him!"

"Can't _you_ do anything?" asked Renee, turning to Technus.

"Don't ask me," he said. "I may be powerful enough to manipulate electronics, but I can't do anything to activate the Fenton portal from here."

"Then how do we get out of here?" said Renee.

Just then, a door opened out of nowhere, revealing the Fenton lab.

Surprised, realizing the chance of that happening was one-in-a-million, the eight ghosts turned invisible and flew out of the ghost zone.

But they had to see what was responsible. A football was there, pressed down on the red button that a certain someone had forgotten to cover.

Danny came from out of the ceiling and picked it up, unaware that there were eyes watching him.

"Ugh...me and my intangible powers," he said to himself. "I really have to be careful with this." He once again put his hand to his eye, the searing pain coming once again.

Suddenly he felt really cold and started shivering. A whisp of ectoplasmic blue smoke, his ghost sense, emerged from his mouth, signifying a ghost was near...

The invisible group suddenly felt cold themselves.

"Damn!" said Skulker quietly. "Our ghostly forms are giving us away!"

Danny suddenly realized that the football had landed on the lock for the Fenton portal.

"Oh man," he said. "Something must have escaped! I'm going ghost!"

Two blue rings appeared around his body, and as they travelled in opposite directions vertically, his regular clothing changed into the familiar black and silver body suit, and his hair and eyes also changed color.

"All right," he said, flying around the room, "where are you?"

The group did their best to avoid him as he zigzagged in all directions, trying to locate the escapees. His ghost sense was going off like crazy. He was getting close...

"We can't do this forever," said Johnny 13, "one of us has to act as decoy!"

"But whom?" asked Desiree.

All eyes turned on one person. It was a pretty unanimous decision.

"But I don't want to go!" said the chosen decoy.

"Too bad!" said Desiree, knocking the Box Ghost out of the group.

"AHH!" he screamed. As he was flying, he lost his concentration of invisibilty, and appeared for Danny to see as he plummeted into a pile of boxes.

"There you are!" said Danny, smiling.

"Uhh..." said the bewildered spirit, looking lost. But then he saw where he had landed, and suddenly became very excited. "BEWARE! I am the Box Ghost!" He levitated the boxes and flung them at Danny.

"Same old, same old," said Danny, going intangible and watching the empty boxes pass through him. Then he charged up an ectoplasmic blast which he then fired into the Box Ghost.

In what appeared to be the shortest fight ever, Danny sealed him quickly inside the Fenton thermos and walked to put him back into the ghost zone, changing back into Danny Fenton as he did so.

Before Danny could sense them as well, the remaining seven escaped the building through the roof to go to a location far away so that Danny could not sense them.

"So that's Danny Phantom," said Renee. "Quite a remarkable being, even if he had one working eye."

"Yes, that's him," said Desiree. "So, what's the plan? In fact, you never told us your powers."

Renee, smiling, whispered a plan to the group.

The group nodded in approval. This plan seemed foolproof.

"But first things first," said Renee. "Can you do something for me, sister?" She whispered something else in Desiree's ear.

Desiree smiled. Her hands glowed red and her voice became the same ethereal one whenever she was about to speak her well-known line.

_"So you have wished it, and so shall it be!"_

"Perfect," said the ghostly sister of Desiree. "Now that that has been settled, why don't we have a little fun with this Danny Phantom?"

_End Chapter 2_

_What are they up to? And what is this new ghost's hidden power? Once again, please send a review for the story to continue!_


	3. Situation Normal

_A/N: Nah, guys, just kidding about the "Review or Else!" tactic. Anyways, here's the third chapter!_

_**Chapter 3: Situation Normal...**_

A Saturday with best friends was definitely something that Danny was looking forward to. They were going to see the movies together, spend some time at the pier, go bowling, and make the up the rest as they went along. It would greatly contrast the amount of work that he was given this week. It was just a day to hang out and relax without worry.

Danny left the house (via the back door, of course) and dialed Tucker's house number on his cell phone.

After a few rings, Tucker picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Tuck, this is Danny. Were you able to get home all right last night?"

"Yeah, it was fine. My grandparents didn't mind that I was late. But I can safely say that my parents weren't too happy with me. I can still hang out today, though."

"Well, that's cool," said Danny.

"Which reminds me," said Tucker. "How's your eye?"

"It's all right, I guess," said Danny, touching it. "Sure, I might get a lot of strange looks today, but I'm sure that it's not gonna be too much of a handicap."

"I kind of doubt that," said Tucker.

"What do you mean?"

"It's pretty simple, Danny," said Tucker. "A lot of people can see you today. If there's an attack, you go ghost, and everyone wonders why Danny Phantom has a black eye, that's going to be a sure mark upon the type of person they're looking for."

Danny stopped in his tracks. He had never thought of that.

"Crap!" he said. "You're right! Why do I only get things like this when it gets too late?"

"Well, it's not _too_ late," said Tucker.

"What are you saying? That I should wear a mask when I go ghost?"

Silence befell the other line for a few seconds before Danny heard Tucker's voice again. "Hmm...that's an idea."

"No way, Tuck," said Danny, starting to walk again. "I am not wearing a mask!"

"Hey," said Tucker. "Last night, you were the one who brought up the idea of changing your name!"

"Which I decided not to, after you guys told me that it was perfectly fine."

"But this is something different, man," said Tucker. "We're talking about exposure about your biggest secret!"

"But wouldn't an addition to my appearance actually make people think that I'm trying to hide something?"

"I...er...uh...AHH! I don't know, man. We'll think of something."

"And I hope that it's a good one," said Danny. "Well, see you later, Tuck. I'm gonna call Sam and see if she can still hang out today."

"OK, man, see you later. In fact, I'll meet you at the Nasty Burger."

"Bye."

Danny hung up. Tucker may have had a point about changing looks to avoid exposure, but come on! Danny Phantom, the Flying Masked Fighter? Didn't have a nice ring to it.

Attempting to push the idea out of his mind, he dialed the number for Sam's cell phone.

Several rings went by without an interruption. _"Strange,"_ Danny thought. _"Usually she'd wait after several rings before she'd pick up. What's going on?"_

He was even more confused when after five rings, there was some laughing at the other end of the line.

In a voice that didn't sound like hers...

Since when did Sam have something like _that?_ Sure she was a goth, but he was sure that she didn't have anything like that on her answering machine. That was really odd...

But then something else crossed his mind...her line from last night echoed in his head.

_"Walking would do me some good. Bye Danny, see you later."_

Did she get home last night?

What if..._she never made it?_

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and started dripping down his face, slightly blurring his vision. If she was hurt, he had just let her down...

Panicking, he dialed Sam's house number. The rings seemed to last forever as Danny waited in nerve-wracking anticipation.

What seemed like hours was really a couple of seconds when he heard a voice on the line...

"Hello?"

It was Sam.

Danny took a breath, along with a sigh of relief. "Oh, my gosh, Sam!" he said.

Sam laughed on the other line. "What's wrong?"

His speech was hardly a whisper from nervousness as he found the strength to speak again. "Oh, nothing...it's just that...oh, never mind, nothing."

A pause. "Are you...OK, Danny?"

"Yeah, I'm just fine," he said, lying through his teeth. Just a minute ago he was a nervous wreck.

"Well, as long as you're fine," she said, with a little light laughter.

"OK," said Danny, completely relieved now. "Anyway, Sam, can I ask you a question? Why didn't you answer your cell phone?"

"Oh! I...uh...I forgot to charge it! I've got it with me in my hand right now. It's currently got a dead battery."

Danny hit himself in the head. Something that simple!

"Why?" she asked. "Did you try calling it?"

"Yes, I did," he said sheepishly.

"Well, I'm here," she said. "So now that that's all settled, what's up?"

"Well," said Danny. "I was wondering if you were still up for going out today with me and Tuck."

"Oh, yeah!" she said, suddenly sounding very excited. "Just give me some time to get ready, and then you guys can come pick me up."

"Actually," said Danny. "Tucker's going to meet me at the Nasty Burger. I'll just go over there right now, and you and Tuck can just meet me there together."

"Sounds good," she said. "All right, Danny, see you later."

"Good-bye, Sam," said Danny. "See you there."

"I'll be looking forward to it," she said, followed by a click on the phone.

Danny put down his phone, also hanging it up. All he could think about was the fact that he had acted absolutely nuts over something that was as simple as a dead battery.

He proceeded towards the direction of the Nasty Burger, his head back on the thoughts of the day's events. Feeling his cell phone was in his hand, he was about to put it back inside of his pocket, but something weird happened.

Danny's ghost sense went off...

Searching around in every direction, he looked around in alarm. Then his hand went to his cell phone. It was vibrating nonstop.

"I'm going ghost!" he yelled.

He made the transformation into Danny Phantom and opened the phone. He could see a big green and black T on the phone screen.

"Technus!" he said. "All right, Technus! I know you're in there! Get out right now!"

The phone shook violently. Danny could hear the laughter from earlier, the one he heard when he picked up Sam's dead cell phone. Technus had been inside the whole time...

The ghost sprang out of the phone and continued with the maniacal laughing.

"HAHA! I am Technus! Master of all things electronic and beeping!"

"Do you EVER change?" asked Danny, flying up to him. "What were you doing in my cell phone, anyway?"

"None of your business! I'm just out for revenge!" said Technus. Transforming into his form to when he was in the video game, Technus was begging for a fight.

"And there's no Level Zero to throw me into this time!" he said.

"Come on, Technerd!" said Danny, accepting the challenge.

"TECH_NUS_!" yelled the spider-like specter. He charged at Danny.

Flying through the air, Danny dodged the charging tackle and fired a ghost ray into Technus, injuring him in the abdomen.

Technus responded by shooting one of his tentacles at Danny, the claw hitting his body.

Though he blocked that area, Danny still screamed in excruciating pain as the speed hard metal forced his blocking fist to hit his bad eye, the Fenton Thermos getting knocked away from him.

"YAH!" he screamed, stunned from the attack, rubbing his eye.

Danny, forcing himself to withstand the pain, flew out of range and attempted to charge Technus, his eyes glowing fiercely.

Technus received the blow of the tackle and skidded into the street.

"Not bad, young Whipper-Snapper!" Technus yelled, an ectoplasmic blast coming out of his hand.

The blast hit Danny in the chest. He fell to the ground, bruised.

Technus had a chance for another swipe. But shooting two tentacles this time, he grappled Danny and literally held him in his own clutches.

Danny couldn't free himself. His eye was too much in pain for him to even think about going intangible, and the claws were slowly squeezing the life out of him.

Danny struggled to force himself out of the death crush. Even though his arms were free, and he was struggling in a futile effort to free himself, he wasn't budging.

He was running out of air. It felt just like the spaghetti from last night, just a whole lot worse...

And Jazz wasn't around...in fact, his parents were with her, out of town, for the weekend.

He was all alone...

"HA!" said Technus. "You think you can escape me! I think not! For I am Technus! Master of...

"Long-winded introductions!" yelled Danny, still trying to force himself free.

"It is no use!" said Technus. "You cannot escape me!"

In a last-ditch effort, Danny charged up his ghost stinger and grabbed the tentacle.

"AHH!" yelled Technus. His body surging with pain, he let Danny go.

Able to breathe again, Danny flew down to the area where the Fenton Thermos had fallen. He activated it and sucked Technus inside.

"I'll be back!" yelled the ghost of technology. "Sooner or later, I'll come back!"

Danny closed the thermos. He was exhausted.

Running behind a tree, he changed back into Danny Fenton. Then he let himself catch his breath.

First Desiree, now Technus? What was going on? Nothing seemed to be making sense right now.

There would almost be no reason for Technus to be in his phone...what was he doing in there?

The questions continued flying through his head, until a hand on his shoulder interrupted his train of thought.

Looking up from a dizzied gaze, he saw that it was Tucker. Sam was standing behind him.

"Are you OK, man?" asked Tucker, looking at his friend in concern.

"Yeah," said Sam. "You look like you've just been in a fight."

Danny held the thermos in the air. "Technus," he said. "He was in my cell phone."

Sam and Tucker exchanged nervous glances.

"W-what was he doing there?" asked Sam.

"Beats me," said Danny. "Probably trying to take over the phone company, for all I know."

His best friends laughed. To Danny, it was good to hear laughter. It looked like it was on the road to being the carefree day he was vainly trying to get.

"So," said Tucker, "I've got a little present for you, Danny."

Tucker held out his hand, something folded inside of it. Danny unfolded it.

It was a black mask.

"Tucker!" he said. "I'm not going to wear a mask!"

"Before you do anything," said Tucker, "just put it on!"

Danny turned to Sam for support. But she seemed to be on the same lines as Tucker.

"I completely agree with Tucker," she said. "If people see you with a black eye, it will be a dead giveaway. Injuries never lie, Danny."

Seeing he was trapped between friends, Danny finally consented. He turned into Danny Phantom and put the mask over his face.

"I want to see a mirror," he said, when it was tied into place.

Sam and Tucker led him over to a store window. Danny looked at himself with the new accessory in place. It looked all right to him. In fact, it wasn't too bad.

"I kind of like it," said Sam.

Danny's heart jumped. "You really think so?" he asked.

"Hey," she said, "Black is my favorite color, you know."

"So, come on!" said Tucker. "Weren't we going somewhere, like the movies, or the pier?"

"Oh, yeah," said Danny, feeling himself change back into his human form. The mask disappeared, as it was only put on his ghost half.

"It will appear once again when you go ghost," said Tucker. "No one will know about it."

"OK," said Danny, walking along with his friends.

"Let's see the movies first," said Tucker, as they walked along. "I want to see that new action-horror movie!"

"Oh, you mean the one with Terminatra?" asked Sam excitedly. "I want to see that one, too!"

Once again, Danny let others do the talking. The only words echoing in his head were those of his sister, from the previous night.

_"...do something about it...you know, something for HER..."_

Maybe today was his day to make a move, but then again, maybe it wasn't. He struggled with the opposition in his own mind as they walked to the cinema.

_End Chapter 3_

_The plot thickens! Please read and review!_


	4. Power Loss

_**Chapter 4 - Power Loss**_

It was only about fifteen minutes into the movie, and already Danny was sweating.

No, not from the action. It was from the thought of rejection.

Sam...her hand was right there...and his was about a few inches away, resting on his lap. All he had to do was lift it up slightly and on top of hers...

He could place his hand on hers if he _wanted _to...but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do it. It was as if there was some invisible wall that blocked him from doing it. And that wall, he knew, was from the current terror in his mind.

_"Am I really this lousy?"_ he thought. _"She's right there...and I _can _do it...it's only one small gesture..."_

But that was a lot of courage. Sure, she was his best friend, but was she willing to go some extra mile?

Echoes from the previous night continued to pass through his mind...Sam blushing after he smiled at her...Jazz's comment on doing something about it...

Danny took a deep breath. He knew he had to do something. And it had to be done now...

He lifted up his hand, shakily. His heart, in a split second, went into rapid beating motion. His palms were starting to sweat as he saw that his hand was about a few inches above hers...he was almost there...

But it never touched...Sam's hand jerked up and she sneezed into it.

"Oh, gross," she said, quietly, looking at her hand. "I should have used a tissue!"

She got up from her seat. "Danny, can you watch my seat for me? I have to go to the bathroom to wash my hands."

Tucker also got up. "I have to go, too. Way too much soda."

"OK, guys," said Danny. "Hurry up. People are still coming in late, and they'd kill to have your seats."

As Sam and Tucker left, Danny slowly put his hand back on his lap.

_"Dang. Maybe I can try again later..."_

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"Not bad," said Tucker as they left the movie theater. "In fact, we may have a series of horror movies that may actually be considered scary."

Danny agreed. Many movie nowadays were concerned only with some person who fought off crazy villains who had some random grudge on the world.

But then again, that was his current life, fighting ghosts who had some random powers...

And another thing about his current life...he wasn't able to get that chance again with the hand gesture...he was pretty annoyed with himself right now.

"So what are we going to do now?" asked the goth girl.

"I don't know," said Tucker. He turned to Danny. "What do you want to do?"

Danny snapped out of his world and answered him. "Huh? Oh, yeah...something to do...umm...how about going to the pier?"

"Sure," said Sam. "In fact, there's something going on down there right now. Everyone's been flocking over there lately."

"What for?" asked the half-ghost.

"Only one way," said Sam. "Why don't we check it out?"

"No problem," said Danny. "I'll fly us over there right now."

Danny's friends smiled. Danny could sense that they were happy that it would save them a good amount of walking. The pier was, after all, almost a mile from where they currently were.

They walked into the alleyway behind the movie theater. Positioning himself in between his friends, he shouted his catch phrase.

"I'm going ghost!"

He closed his eyes as the blue transformation ring surrounded him. He waited as it split in half and each ring traveled in the opposite direction.

When the rings disappeared, and his costume replaced his outfit, he was ready.

"Here we go, guys!"

But as they took off, something peculiar happened. No sooner had Danny left the ground, his ghostly form disappeared and he had turned back into Danny Fenton.

Danny Fenton couldn't fly, so all three came back down with a sudden crash.

"Wha-?" said Tucker, rubbing his head. "What's going on?"

Sam also questioned the sudden change. "What's wrong, Danny?"

Danny was a little confused. "I...don't know..." he said. "Let me try again."

Repositioning himself, he yelled, "I'm going ghost!"

He turned into Danny Phantom once again. "OK, let's do this again."

He took off for flight...but the same thing happened! Danny fell down again, harder this time, because he had gotten further up.

Bruised, Danny stood up with a strange feeling in his head and on his ego.

"I don't know what's going on!" he said. "When I fought off Technus, I was doing perfectly fine!"

"Look man," said Tucker. "You fought off Desiree last night, and then you had to deal with Technus, less than a day later. You're probably just winded from all the activites you've been doing."

"I agree," said Sam. "you probably just need a rest right now."

Still a little confused, Danny wondered about the statements. He _felt_ all right...but it seemed to make sense. When he was on his first fighting assignment with the ghost lunch lady, he was exhausted and he turned back into Danny Fenton...

But that was the thing...he didn't _feel _exhausted...he felt fine...

But then again, ever since his life changed, he had learned to expect the unexpected...

"I guess you're right," said Danny. "Do you guys mind walking over there?"

"No, I don't mind," said Sam, "but I have a better idea. Let's take the bus."

It was then Danny and Tucker noticed that they were in front of a bus stop, and the vehicle was there for pickup.

"This is convienent," said Tucker as they boarded.

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The distance to the pier wasn't long, but it seemed that it took forever...nearly everyone had to make a stop along the way. It took almost thirty minutes.

"We should have walked!" said Danny, exasperated from the long ride.

"OK," said Sam, "not the best idea, but we're still here, aren't we?"

"True," said Danny. "But we still could have walked."

"All right, all right," said Tucker. "The point is we're _here_. No sense in arguing over it."

_"Weird,"_ thought Danny. _"Usually he loves watching us bicker a little...it's his sense of enjoyment..."_

It was then Danny heard some faint music in the air, and a large banner that hung as far as the eye could see, reading in impossible-to-miss block letters, "FREE CONCERT TONIGHT."

"A concert?" asked Sam. "So that must be the reason everyone is coming down here. I wonder who's playing?"

"Beats me," said Danny. "Let's go check it out."

As the three friends strolled further down the boardwalk, the music got louder and clearer.

An amphitheater was packed to the limit. Whoever this person was, it was someone probably very popular. There were people screaming so loud it hurt his ears.

And it also hurt...his throat?

Danny felt as if he was going to choke... he let out the thing blocking his airway passage.

His ghost sense...

And as Danny heard the words, it was quite reasonable to believe that everyone was chanting for a different reason.

_Ember, you will remember,_

_Ember, one thing remains..._

And the worst parts were, his friends didn't have the Fenton Phones, and his powers were diminished...

_End Chapter 4_


	5. Three Surprises

_A/N: Thank you, people, for the reviews. Sorry it took so long...busy with school and other things, too...just one of those days, (or weeks, I guess)...anyway...here's the fifth chapter._

_**Chapter 5 - Three Surprises**_

Ember's ghostly wail echoed through Danny's head like it was burning into him like fire. Easy listening music was bad enough for him, but music that had the power to control people? It was the last thing he wanted to hear right now, with his powers suddenly going haywire...

_"...Oh, Ember, so warm and tender...You will remember my name..."_

The happily cheering crowd at the close of the verse greatly contrasted the panic in his head as he wondered about his current situation.

_"Ember?" _he thought. _"Here? Now? WHY!"_ Questions poured into his head, one after the other.

First off, what was he going to do? His powers were mysteriously shorted out for some reason...and there was no way for him to fight Ember in this condition. Second, there was the notion of his friends...they had unprotected ears...

He had forgotten about his friends...shutting one eye, and looking behind him, he braced for the worst...

But the impossible had occurred...

Sam AND Tucker, together, they were...

...fine?

They were fine! How?

Panic for his friends' safety suddenly turned into confusion. As he walked over to them, he managed to only blurt out small, incomplete phrases, complete with matching hand gestures.

_"But you..."_

_"But I..."_

_"How!...you two..."_

_"Ember...there..."_

_"YOU here...NORMAL!"_

Sam and Tucker looked at him like he was going nuts. But in Danny's head, it was exactly how he felt right now.

Tucker broke Danny's phrases of confusion. "Uhh...man? Is something wrong?"

Danny let himself breathe for a second before he was able to form his first complete sentence.

"How...are you guys not under Ember's control!"

Tucker and Sam, laughing a bit, pulled back their hair to reveal two sets of Fenton phones.

"C'mon, Danny," said Tucker. "Don't you think we'd know your battles at this point?"

Danny was aghast. Still in stunned mode, he blurted out, "Where did you guys get those!"

"We kept them from the first encounter with Ember," said Sam. "You don't need them, after all, since you're part ghost."

_"Except for a certain love song..." _thought Danny. He was still angry at Ember for that.

But either way, his confusion started to melt away with that statement. "So that's where those things went," he said. "I always wondered what happened to those things."

So Sam and Tucker were going to be fine. But that still didn't solve the greater challenge...

Ember...how was this fight going to be possible without his powers?

Sam and Tucker recognized the trademark look of worry in Danny's face, even if it was covered by a black eye.

"We know what you're thinking," said Tucker. "I don't know what you can do."

"This is just great!" said Danny out loud. "There's a mind-controlling ghost on the loose, and there isn't anything I can do about it!"

A voice. "...Nothing you can do about it? That's not the person I know."

Danny stopped and turned. His sister Jazz was standing there, Fenton phones in her ears.

Now Danny was blown away. First Sam and Tucker pull a miracle out of nowhere, and now Jazz was here! She was supposed to be away with their parents...

Wasn't she?

He _was_ going crazy, wasn't he?

But even stranger, Sam and Tucker seemed to look more stunned by her sudden appearance out of nowhere.

"Where did _you_ come from?" asked Sam. "I thought you were away!"

"I was able to convince them that I wasn't going," said Jazz. "It was just another convention for ghost-hunters out of town. I really think Mom and Dad are still convinced that I'm a ghost...that's why I didn't want to go...they might have wanted to take me there as a specimen or something..."

Danny laughed. "I thought they stopped believing that already!"

Jazz shrugged. "They're our parents. What do you think?"

"Well, she's got a point there," said Sam.

"But _I _still have one question." said Danny. "How did you know we were here?"

"I didn't know that you were here," said Jazz. "I'm probably just like you guys. I heard there was something going on down here, and I wanted to check it out. Thank goodness you decided to show up."

A piercing thought suddenly coursed through Danny's head.

"Jazz!" he thought. "Do you still have all those weapons in your purse?"

"Yeah," she said, opening it. "Everything's still here, why?"

A wave of good feeling...of _relief_, washed over Danny.

_"No," _he thought. _"Thank goodness _you_ decided to show up..."_

"Danny?" asked Jazz. "What's wrong?"

Danny broke out of his stupor of seeing the weapons and looked at her.

"Jazz, I need to use these."

"Use these!" asked Jazz. "Don't you have ghost powers to take care of this?"

Danny suddenly blushed. "I...uh...umm..."

Jazz's expression suddenly changed from wonder to suspicion.

"What are you not telling me, Danny?"

"Let me explain," said Tucker. He told her the whole story.

"My goodness, Danny!" she said, after hearing about the shortened powers. "How do you think you lost them?"

"I don't know," said Danny. "That's a big question mark on my account."

Jazz turned to Sam and Tucker.

"You two didn't have anything to do with this, by any chance, did you?" asked Jazz to Sam and Tucker.

Danny and his friends gave her answer in the form of a dark glare with the _"What are you thinking!" _look.

"Geez, just asking," said Jazz, handing her purse to Danny.

Danny was about to take off, but Tucker stopped him.

"Wait a minute," he said. "This is dangerous. Do you think you can handle them without your powers?"

_"Them?" _thought Danny. "Who's "them," Tucker? It's only Ember!"

Sam cut in for him. "_Hello,_ Danny! Ember is part of a quartet! And besides, what if you get hurt even more? You already hurt your eye from that fight with Technus!"

"Technus?" said Danny. "This is from Desiree!"

"Oh, uh...yeah," said Sam, flustered. "I knew that. But still, what if you get hurt?"

There was deep concern in her voice. Jazz picked up the concern and smiled at Danny, thinking about her own line from the previous night. He responded by elbowing her in the arm.

"I'm going to be fine," he said. "I've fought without my powers before, you know that."

"I'm still worried," said Sam. "The last thing you need is a trip to the hospital."

"I'll be fine," said Danny, putting on the Specter Deflector. "The next thing you'll see is me coming from the crowd, holding Ember in the Fenton thermos."

"Or vice versa," said Tucker, under his breath.

Sam elbowed him the ribcage.

"Don't say that again!" she said quietly.

Jazz smiled at them.

Then, winking at Danny, she said, "Go get her. Show Ember who you are!"

Danny hugged his sister and ran into the crowd.

"Be careful, Danny!" said all three as he disappeared.

"Think he'll be able to pull it off?" asked Tucker.

"He's Danny," said Jazz. "I know he'll be able to."

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_"What am I doing!" _thought Danny as he ran through the Ember-stupefied crowd. _"I'm not going to be able to do this!"_

Ember's haunting refrains carried through the night wind out towards the ocean. He had that horrible thought that those chords were brainwashing the people out there in the boats. That could just add to more people that could be used against him in the upcoming fight.

And there were already thousands here...

But he had a job to do...he had to sneak past the security guards to gain access to the backstage, so he could capture her from the back.

Easier done than said. Also under Ember's control, the guards were cheering down in the mosh pit.

Laughing, and happy about the amount of time that he realized that this saved him, he silently made his way up the stairs that led towards the back.

There were some stagehands back there, but they weren't paying attention to anything. Danny quickly walked through the shady corridors and finally reached the curtains surrounding the stage.

He could see the cheering crowd, the crowd that gave Ember her power...her hair was flaring up so high that it was a wonder that no one could notice that it was actually fire.

But then again, they were so overpowered by Ember's voice that they weren't even paying attention.

And she wasn't paying attention to what was happening behind her either, this was his chance to capture her without fighting at all.

His heart racing, Danny took out the Fenton thermos and started to open it.

It was almost immediately knocked out of his hand by a flying arrow. Judging by the wind that he felt against his head, it was fired from close range.

"Sorry, but I can't let you do that," said a dark voice behind him.

Feeling his veins turning into ice, Danny looked behind him.

It was Skulker, and he had a big smile on his face.

He was here, too!

_Yes, I know, another cliffhanger. Sorry about that._


	6. Jam Session

_A/N: A certain segment here involves knowledge of the "One of a Kind" episode in the series. If you didn't see this episode, then you might not get the joke._

_**Chapter 6 - Jam Session**_

Skulker...was here too...

Danny was terrified. Was he in some sort of plan with Ember?

Or even worse, with the other ghosts that he had fought off?

And another thing..._why didn't his ghost sense go off to warn him?_

The haunting truth came to his mind when he realized that his powers were fading. He was losing the things that were vital to his ghost fighting...

One thing was for sure...he had no chance of a two-on-one fight, with his ghost powers diminished...in fact, he could almost feel Ember's ghostly voice actually trying to penetrate his brain with mind control.

Skulker was still smiling. "Did you miss me?"

Danny wasn't buying the smile. "What are you doing here, Skulker?"

"Who knows?" said the ghost hunter. "Maybe I'm here to enjoy the music, or maybe I'm here to make sure no one harms Ember from behind, just like you're doing right now..."

"What are you?" asked Danny. "Her bodyguard?"

"For now, yes I am," said Skulker. "And as Ember's guard, you're trespassing. I guess we'll have to do something about that, will we?"

Taking out his bow, he shot an arrow at Danny.

He dodged it, and hid behind a table.

While in hiding, Danny plunged his hand into the bag of weapons. There had to be something he could use right now to stun him.

To his delight, he found an additional item that Jazz had added - the lipstick ectoblaster. It was small, but it packed a powerful punch.

"Where are you, ghost child?" asked Skulker, searching around the area. "I have a little present for you..."

Jumping out into view, Danny faced him. "And I have something for you, too!"

"What?" asked Skulker.

"THIS!" Danny uncapped the lipstick and fired it at Skulker. It hit the surprised ghost hunter in the chest, knocking him backwards.

Danny attempted to suck Skulker into the thermos, but Skulker knocked it out of his hand with another arrow. He still remained on the ground however. Danny walked up to him and placed his foot on top of his chest. That lipstick blast must have really been quite an attack...no wonder it was Tucker's favorite weapon...

"What's the matter, ghost child?" asked Skulker in a sarcastic voice. "Think you can beat me by going ghost?"

"No," said Danny, irritated of his situation. "I'm not going ghost because I _can't_."

The smile on Skulker's face was even broader than the one before. In fact, it was _too_ broad...

Danny knew something was up...although it was a only a smile, it said too many things...he had fought way too many ghosts over these past few days, and they all _had _to be involved in some plan...it probably had something to do with the weakening of his powers...

Then a flashback came to his head...last night...the football...

The football fell on top of the Fenton Portal button...they must have all been set free...it wasn't only the Box Ghost that had been set free...

And that led to new questions..._Who was set free? How many were set free?_

And more importantly, _Who was the ring-leader?_

"Alright Skulker," said Danny. "I know something's up...what's the story?" He pointed the lipstick ectoblaster at him.

"You expect me to give you any answers?" asked Skulker. "You'll have a better job asking Technus!"

"Already sealed him up," said Danny, his voice rising in anger. "I know you're all involved with something. Tell me the story, or I'll blast you into oblivion." His finger was on the trigger button, ready to press.

Skulker was already wincing at the first blast.

"Fine," he said. "But one thing you have to do. I can only show you when you go ghost."

"I _can't_ go ghost!" yelled Danny.

"Don't be stupid," said Skulker. "You can go ghost for about a few seconds before you change back."

Danny thought for a while. When he attempted to fly, he _did_ have his ghost form for a few seconds.

"Fine," he said, taking his foot off Skulker. "This better not be some sort of trick."

He went ghost. "OK, what's wrong?"

Skulker looked at Danny and laughed. "What's wrong? It's the fact you're about to fall for your own trap!"

_"What is he talking about?"_ thought Danny. But as he looked down at his waist, the split-second realization came to his head telling him that he was still wearing the Specter Deflector...

An electrical shock passed through his body. As he screamed, he could not describe the immensity of pain he was in.

He changed back into his human form, dazed and painful. He could barely see anything, barely move.

But the weird thing...his face hurt more than anything else...it was as if something was binding his face and cutting off the circulation to his brain...

And even more so...his eyes...

They were screaming? How was that possible? He had to be hallucinating...

Before Danny could do anything, Skulker stuck out his arm and out came the blue net that he used to trap things with. Danny was easily captured.

But instead of leaving, he called someone with his devices.

"What are you doing?" asked Danny, still a bit paralyzed from the Specter Deflector.

"I promised Ember that if you ever came by, that she could get a piece of you, too. I should fulfill a promise, shouldn't I?"

Danny only blinked.

A picture of Ember appeared on Skulker's PDA screen a few seconds later.

"What do you want?" she said. "I'm in the middle of a concert here!"

"That ghost child is here," said Skulker.

"Ohhh!" she said. "Why didn't you say so? I'll be back there ASAP!"

Ember's music suddenly stopped outside, and she called out to the crowd.

"Thank you, Amity Park!" echoed the ghost singer's voice into the night air. "OK, I've got some _business_ to take care of backstage right now, but after a short ten-minute intermission, we'll be back with more music!"

She headed towards the curtains backstage.

Danny's panic was reaching maximum levels. Ember was coming back here!

There was nothing he could do right now...he was trapped in Skulker's net...there was no possible way to get out...

"She is going to enjoy doing this to you," said Skulker, raising an eyebrow.

Danny could only stare back with fearful eyes...if only he had his powers...

He was feeling a little better from his own attack...at least he could move a little again.

Perhaps he did have his powers...

Unlocking the Specter Deflector on his waist and concentrating with all his might, he went ghost.

He watched as the black body suit appeared over his clothes...he tried going intangible, but as soon as he attempted to activate that power, his ghostly form disappeared.

_Why was this happening to him!_

With another ghost coming back here, it was the worst possible time.

Ember stepped from behind the curtain...and her hair was literally two feet high.

"Well, what have we here?" asked Ember. Eyeing Danny trapped in the net, she smiled.

"Excellent," she said. "Good work, Skulker."

"What do you want me to do with him?" he asked.

Thinking for a moment, she said, "Let him out. It's a lot better when they try to struggle, not be trapped."

Skulker complied with her wishes.

Danny got up and put on the Specter Deflector again. He was staring down two ghosts at the same time. This fight, he knew, was going to be different from the previous ones.

And a hell of a lot harder.

"All right, Dipstick," said Ember. "You're going to pay for wrecking my guitar from our last encounter!"

She turned the dial on her guitar that was a picture of a fist.

"Any requests?" she asked, before she was about to strum a power chord.

Danny couldn't say anything. He felt a sudden urge to run, but that could only hold out so long. He closed his eyes and blindly pointed the lipstick ectoblaster at Ember.

"Don't have a request, huh?" she said. "Well, here's a little ditty for you!" Her hand raised in the air and her fingers started falling towards the strings.

The half-ghost held his breath...he prepared himself to feel the sting of the music...

But Ember's fingers never strummed the chord...in fact, there was other music in the air that made her stop and look around in wonderment...

It was a light, classic tune...and it sounded digital...

...The William Tell Overture...and it was coming from Skulker...

"What?" she said in outrage. "Skulker! What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything!" he said. "Someone's hacking into my system!"

Words appeared on his screen. _"Fly to newsstand in Russia...and purchase a copy of new-found evidence of Purple Back Gorilla life in the Amazon."_

Rockets appeared on his back, and ignited.

"NO!" he shouted, crashing through the roof. "NOT AGAIN!"

"Skulker!" shouted Ember, looking through the hole in the ceiling. "Get back here! Where are you going?"

While flying helplessly through the air, Skulker shouted something...it sounded like obscenities, but he was well out of earshot.

Watching him fly out of sight, Danny looked around to see who assisted him.

But there was no one to be found.

_"Thank you, Tucker..."_ he thought.

Ember's smile turned into a dark glare. "YOU!" she shouted. "YOU had something to do with this! Where is he going? What did you do to him?"

Now it was Danny's turn to laugh as he put Fenton phones in his ears. "He's going far away from here. I'm sure he'll be back sometime soon within the next four days..."

Russia was a far place, after all...that was a good sneak message by Tucker on his PDA...wherever he was...

"You're going down!" yelled Ember. She strummed a chord with such force that it knocked Danny into a wall, pinning him against it.

As he was being held there, he could see Ember's face of rage staring back at him.

The chord ended its tangible sound wave, and he was brought down from the wall, badly bruised. Ember started charging him, screaming, planning to slam her guitar on him.

Danny rolled out of the way, the guitar making a large hole in the ground. He fired a lipstick blast at Ember.

She dodged it, but she didn't get completely out of the way. The blast knocked the guitar out of her hands.

Scrambling, Ember turned her back on Danny and ran to pick it up.

This was his chance. While her back was turned, he struggled to his knees and leapt at Ember, grabbing her by the ankle and tripping her.

The Specter Deflector on his waist activated, and the ghostly singer received a nasty shock. She fell to the ground, literally steaming.

Danny looked for the thermos, but he realized it was knocked out of his hand from Skulker's earlier attack. He searched around for it before finding it inside the folds of the stage curtain.

He picked it up and pointed it at the place where Ember had fallen.

She wasn't there.

"Looking for me?" asked a voice from behind.

Turning, he saw Ember behind him, and her hands were glowing red.

A blast flew out of them, aimed at his feet, and he was surrounded by a spinning vortex prison that he could not escape from.

"That should hold you!" she said.

"I wouldn't say so!" he replied.

Danny took out the next weapon in his arsenal, the Jack-of-Nine-Tails. Activating it, he threw the device at Ember. After easily phasing through the vortex, its top half separated and unleashed a large number of electrical claws.

They wrapped around Ember, trapping her. Entangled, and surprised, she received another electrical shock.

The vortex disappearing around him, Danny ran in front of Ember. He pointed the Fenton Thermos in her direction, preparing to trap her inside of it.

Ember responded with her final weapon...her fiery hair.

Her eyes glowing red with fury, she shot a flame in Danny's direction. Danny jumped out of the way, but it ignited the curtains behind him.

"Geez!" said Danny. "You should really do something about those split ends!"

He sucked her inside the Fenton Thermos.

"You'll pay for this, Dipstick!" she yelled as she was getting sucked inside. "You hear me? You'll PAY!"

Danny shut the thermos, tired and sweating.

But he was quite pleased with himself. He had actually been able to hold off a ghost without using his powers!

He felt like celebrating. But it was to be short-lived, as he heard screaming outside.

"FIRE!" yelled thousands of voices in pandemonium. They were obviously out of Ember's control now.

Danny ran out from behind the stage. Fighting his way through the terrified crowd, he tried to locate his friends and sister.

It was taking forever...he hoped they were OK...

He finally spotted them! He ran towards them, out of breath.

"You're OK!" yelled Jazz, hugging him with such force that he couldn't breathe. "Did you do it? Did you capture Ember?"

Danny waved the thermos in the air. "I did it...without my powers!"

"That's GREAT, Danny!" yelled Sam, who also ran to give him a hug. "I knew all along that you'd be able to do it all alone!"

"It wasn't easy, though," said Danny. "Skulker was also there..."

A gasp came from Jazz. "He was? Did you fight him off as well? Is he in there?"

"No," said Danny, laughing. "He was sent to Russia, via a smart move by Tucker!" He turned in his direction. "Thanks, dude. By the way, you could have told me that you had my back while I was over there."

Tucker looked at him blankly. "What?" he asked. "What did I do?"

Danny's smile almost vanished. "You hacked into his system and sent him to Russia with that Purple Back Gorilla thing again. Remember?"

Tucker was still stunned. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Danny's smile was now gone. He, Tucker, and Sam were the only ones who knew of Skulker's problems. Who else could it be?

_"Perhaps he's just playing with me right now."_ he thought. _"He's letting me feel good because I was able to do this without my powers..."_

That seemed like a good conclusion...

...Right?

000000000000000000000000000000

They went back home on the bus, and started walking back home.

Throughout the walk, Danny was talking about how he was able to fight off Ember using only the weapons in Jazz's purse, explaining everything in perfect detail.

"...and I didn't have to use my powers at all!" said Danny.

"That's awesome, man!" said Tucker. "Good job to you!" He high-fived him.

Jazz was still in a good mood. "Hey, Danny," she said. "We should celebrate at our house!"

Their parents weren't home, so that sounded like a good idea.

"Sure," said Danny. He turned to Sam and Tucker. "You guys up for it?"

"Count me in," said Tucker. "I've got a free night."

"Me, too," said Sam.

"I guess that's pretty much unanimous," said Jazz.

The FentonWorks house was just ahead. After a stressful night, Danny felt it was a good thing to be home. Besides, it was a great time to put Ember back into the ghost zone.

The four teens ran up to the front.

Danny was about to place his foot upon the first step of the stairs, but then he remembered the ghost alarm...

"Uhh," he said. "I think I'd better enter from the back."

"Good idea," said Jazz, also remembering.

"What's a good idea?" said Sam.

"Oh, you'll see once we get to the door." said Jazz.

Danny laughed as he made his way through the dark alleyway at the side of his house. He knew that sooner or later, he would have to tell his parents that he was half-ghost. It would be the only way that he could get them to uninstall the system.

This was one of the many things that he thought of when he put his hand on the doorknob.

The alarm suddenly went off.

_"Warning...warning...ghost on premesis...warning...warning...this is not a drill..."_

Danny closed his eyes in panic. His parents must have stalled an alarm system on the back porch as well...

...so why wasn't there any smoke? Or any net to capture him?

He opened his eyes. Nothing was happening back here...the alarm was sounding off in the front.

Which meant there were other ghosts...

Hoping his friends and sister were all right, Danny sprinted towards the front.

And he was witnessing a scene that he couldn't believe...

Sam and Tucker were trapped in nets. And Jazz was pointing the ectoplasmic lipstick blaster at them.

Confused, Danny ran up to his sister. "JAZZ!" he said in outrage. "What are you doing to Sam and Tucker?"

"Isn't it obvious!" she screamed back. "That's not Sam and Tucker!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Danny, more confused than ever.

"Yeah! What are you talking about?" asked Sam from inside the net.

"Shut up!" said Jazz. "I know you're not Sam!" Turning, she said, "I also know you're not Tucker!"

"Jazz, have you lost your mind!" said Danny. "Let them out!"

"Danny, listen to me! Look at the ground below Tucker!" said Jazz. "Notice anything?"

Danny looked at the spot, and realized Jazz had a great point.

Tucker wasn't casting a shadow...

Someone not casting a shadow...why did that sound so familiar?


End file.
